Pensioners woes unheard as KCR goes out of reach

Hyderabad: It was a star-crossed day on Wednesday for seven septuagenarians who came all the way from Mahabubabad district to meet Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and pour out their woes, hoping to get some sort of monitory relief in the fag end of their lives.

When they started early in the morning from Kesamudram to meet the Chief Minister, they were hopeful that their beloved leader would listen to their plight and do something to help them spend their twilight years peacefully.

But fate had something else in store for them. When they reached the State Secretariat after a long and tedious journey, they realised that their leader was not in town. They were told by the security staff that the Chief Minister was in New Delhi to attend some official ceremonies, much to their chagrin and disappointment.

They came to meet the Chief Minister to tell him about pension worries. For them, old-age pension is the only source of livelihood like thousands of their ilk throughout the State. With their offspring grown up and stopped caring their parents, these hapless people have been left in lurch, with none to take care of them in times of need.

The State government’s decision to provide them some financial assistance in the form of old-age pension came as matter of great relief for them, but the joy and cheer was short-lived. “We came to meet the Chief Minister with great hope. We stopped getting pension ever since the Telangana State was born and the new government was formed by Chandrashekar Rao.

We used to get a pension amount of Rs 200 when Y S Rajashekar Reddy was the Chief Minister. But everything’s gone. We are living in abject poverty and we have none to care us,” said P Venkatamma, one among the group that squandered their whole day without proper food and water.

Though the Chief Minister was not available, they tried hard to convince the security guards to have access to other Ministers or concerned officials, but in vain. They loitered around the Secretariat premises till evening hoping against hopes that someone would come for help.

“Our children aren’t taking care of us. We have no one to turn to. The Chief Minister was our only hope. Now, as we can’t afford to stay here until the Chief Minister comes, back we have to leave for out native village. Who knows if someone will ever listen to our problems and come forward to help us. What all we want is to die a peaceful death,” snuffled K Ilaiah, another senior citizen.

Unfortunately, this is not a singular incident. On the premises of the State administrative headquarters, hundreds of such people come with hopes of pouring out their woes and get some help from the powers-that-be. But they have to finally go back disappointed as the officials and politicos turn them away without any mercy.

It may be mentioned here that last week, three of a family tried to commit suicide on the premises of Pragathi Bhavan, the Chief Minister’s official camp office as they were denied permission to meet the Chief Minister.

By Srinivas Setty